


In which the Vacuo reunion goes about as well as could be expected

by Udbsken



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, my take on an Emerald vs Mercury fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29714886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Udbsken/pseuds/Udbsken
Summary: Emerald wants Mercury to leave Salem. Mercury doesn’t particularly want to. Fighting is probably not the way to solve this problem, but they’re going to try it anyway.
Kudos: 14





	In which the Vacuo reunion goes about as well as could be expected

“Are we seriously going to fight?” Mercury asked, richly considering he’d been feigning a casual stance for the last few minutes of conversation.

“Are you seriously not going to defect?” Emerald said shortly, readjusting one hand around the trigger of Thief’s Respite.

Mercury shrugged. “I haven’t survived everything just to die at some immortal witch’s feet next to a bunch of school kids.”

“She’s ending the world, Merc!” Emerald snapped, frustration shaving the soft edges off her voice, “There _is_ no surviving Salem.”

“Then I’ll die with dignity, I guess.” his gaze settled on her, as solid and steady as she remembered. “I’m happy that you left, I really am, but I just don’t belong somewhere like that.”

Emerald growled low in her throat. “You are such an _idiot_.” she said.

If the only language Mercury understood was violence, then fine. She’d been getting a craving to beat some sense into him anyway. She fired the first shot before she could second guess any longer. Mercury dodged it deftly, evidently having been expecting it, using the momentum to close the gap between them and lessen her weapon’s range advantage.

She’d fought Mercury before, in training and sometimes seriously when arguments got heated, but it had never been like this before. There was a tension that blanketed the air as thickly as the Vacuo heat, smothering even Mercury’s ever present snark. Emerald blocked a kick to her side, the metal slamming into her forearm as she landed a bullet in the opening it created with a flash of silver. It was easy to fall into the familiar pattern of fighting Mercury, parrying and attacking, gaining ground and falling back. She activated her semblance, imagining herself aiming an attack at his left side while raising her blade over his right. _He has enough aura, he’ll be fine,_ she assured herself before bringing it down towards his neck, but the momentary pause was long enough for her temporary illusion to fall harmlessly upon Mercury, and he knocked her arm back before hitting solidly on her bare stomach, her lungs burning in complaint. 

Emerald jumped backwards, landing combat ready a safe distance away, her feet shifting slightly over the hot layer of sand that coated everything in Vacuo, giving herself distance to catch her breath.

Mercury’s smirk was back, although there was a tightness behind it, like she was genuinely frustrating him. “If you want to win you’ve got to stop holding back. It’s not like I’m doing you any favours.”

Emerald glared at him. “Is this serious enough for you?” 

She almost threw her semblance at him, pouring a lightning flash second of anger and irritation into conjuring the worst image she could think of. Regret chased that down almost as soon as the illusion manifested.

Mercury stumbled back instinctively from the mirage of his father, a flash of an emotion in his eyes Emerald had never seen on his face before. He composed himself quickly though, the scared child Emerald had been sure she’d seen for a moment gone again, although his stance was more stiff and angular than normal as he stared Emerald’s memory of Marcus Black down.

“I appreciate the dirty play, but that thing isn’t going to make me want to stop fighting.” he said, his tone carefully controlled and his eyes never leaving the illusion’s, “and you need to work on your details.” 

At the second sentence his gaze slid down to her. The way his fists balled by his sides made Emerald think it took effort for him to look away. She wasn’t sure what to do. Her anger had mostly dissolved before that unfamiliar look in Mercury’s eyes, leaving guilt in its wake. She’d gone too far, she knew. Merc almost never talked seriously about what had happened with his father when he was a kid, just like how Emerald didn’t talk about living on the streets. Both of them had had a silent agreement to not question the other about it. And now that agreement was shattered, as if the battleground between them wasn’t a large enough gap. She retracted her semblance like an apology, causing Mercury’s posture to almost imperceptibly relax. 

Emerald dropped her fighting stance with a sigh. “This is stupid.” she said to the sky.

Mercury gave half a laugh, the relieved breathy kind he used for the breaking of tension, not the sharp mocking one for opponents. “Yeah, it is.”

“You’re my friend Merc. Maybe -“ she paused, trying to banish the thoughts of Cinder from her mind, “maybe my only one. And I’m pretty sure friends don’t let friends ruin their lives because they’re scared of letting themselves try to be a good person.”

Mercury huffed. “I’m not scared.”

Emerald pointedly rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure. Just -“ she held out her hand, feeling the same uncertainty she had back on the whale when Mercury left, “be not scared with me?” 

Mercury eyed her hand like it was a live snake. “I-“ he started, then muttered something under his breath Emerald couldn’t make out, although she was pretty sure it involved a lot of swearing. 

He sighed, and then reached out and took her hand. His skin was rough with scars and callouses, and uncomfortably warm in the Vacuo heat, but the feeling of his hand in hers still made her grin like an idiot, letting the hopes she’d spent the past conversation beating down rise back up again. 

“Me too,” he said quietly.

“What?”

He looked at the worn cobblestone beneath them. “I mean - the friend thing. Gods, don’t make me say it.” 

“Aww,” Emerald teased, “Love you too you idiot.”

Mercury glared at her. “I’m within finger breaking range you know.” 

“Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that.”


End file.
